Cloete, A: Things were better then

During the implementation of the Group Areas Act in South Africa in the early 1980s, ‘coloured‘, ‘black‘ and Indian South Africans were forcibly removed to residential suburbs constructed for this purpose. This research was conducted in Belhar a suburb assigned to house relocated ‘coloured‘ people from the Cape Metropolitan and Peninsula areas of the Western Cape Province. Belhar for this reason was historically categorised as a ‘coloured‘ community during the implementation of the Group Areas Act. At the time of data collection the community of Belhar was known as an intensely gang-infested area. From preliminary research done by myself at a senior citizen centre in Belhar, the high incidence of violence was a recurring theme throughout discussions with older people. In fact when I posed the question Why do you come to the centre five days a week? to a group of older people they answered without hesitation It is unsafe for an older person to be alone during the day. Answers like these to many of the questions that I posed would almost always be followed with Things were better then.